Langy bus rolls on in for a 2–1 win at North Geelong
Posted: 1 August, 2007
| North Geelong | 1 | — | 2 | Langwarrin |
| Barry Tulloch Adam Poole |
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Round 16: North Geelong v Langwarrin — 28 July, 2007
Langy travelled down by bus to Lara to play North Geelong in very confident mood after 2 great wins against 2nd placed Bentleigh 5–1 and a great 1–0 win against league leaders Frankston Pines last week at home. There are no easy games in this league and even though North Geelong are sitting last they have collected all their points at home. The last time these 2 teams met, Langy managed to win 1–0.
The only line-up change from the week before was big Caleb coming in from Stuart Craig who was on the bench with Ben Caffrey and Matty Hakvoort. Langy started a bit sluggishly and it was North Geelong who was taking the game to Langy with some good passing moves. For all their possession they could not break down the Langy defence of Quinn, Breslin and MacNicol.
The game seemed destined to be one of those games you get when both teams seemed to be going through the motions. It all broke into life in the 35th minute when big Caleb won the ball at the half way line from the North Geelong number 15, as he laid it off to Poole who played it on to Barry Tulloch as a pushing match started with Big Caleb and the number 15.
With the referee in a great position he played advantage to Barry and to Langy's surprise the centre half and sweeper decided that it was better to join in the melee with their team mate and leave a huge hole in the defence for Barry to run into and round the advancing keeper and slot it into the empty net.
There was slight confusion as to whether the goal would stand but the ref quickly blew his whistle and pointed to the half way line. 1–0 to the Langy boys, as he turned back to get the "melee" under control big Caleb was on the ground after being hit from behind. The ref then called Langy's trainer on and as he was about to help Caleb off the ground the ref came over and gave him a yellow card. Caleb was clearly concussed and had blood everywhere and as he tried to stand up. To everyone's surprise Caleb was then sent off by the ref. The ref then called over the number 15 and he showed him a yellow card. So Langy was down to 10 men and Gus managed to regroup his team and get them through to half time with the score line at 1–0.
The players were incensed at half time and it took all of Gus's experience to calm them down and get them re-focussed on the game for the second half. He made the point that the only acceptable result now was a win and that the Club would take care of Caleb. Langy went with just 1 player up front in Karl Cochrane with the normal 5 in midfield and 3 in defence. Once again North Geelong started well and had plenty of possession but with the midfield working hard they managed to keep North Geelong at bay and not allowed any meaningful shots on target. Stuart Craig came on for Sam Herir to help strengthen up the centre of midfield. The move paid immediate dividends when Langy won a corner, Shane Tagliaferro swung the ball over and it was partially cleared by the North Geelong defence to Adam Poole at the edge of the box, he needed only one touch and smashed it into the bottom right hand corner to give Langy a deserved 2–0 lead with 20 minutes left to play. Adam must love this ground and that goal as he scored a screamer last year at the same ground and goal.
Karl Cochrane then came off, having run himself into the ground as the lone striker and was replaced by Ben Caffrey who went into the midfield with Barry Tulloch moving on up front. With ten minutes to go Matty Hakvoort came on for Adam Poole. Just when Langy thought they would be able to coast home to the final whistle, some sloppy marking in midfield allowed a North Geelong player to find his man unmarked at the edge of the box who took one touch and bent a great shot into the back of the net to make the score line 2-1 with just under 10 minutes to go.
North Geelong now thought they could get the equaliser and it was again back to the walls stuff for Langy, but as North Geelong pushed forward more and more it allowed Barry Tullock to get free and go on one of those great runs he does so well. He took it down the left hand side and swung in a great cross for Ben Caffrey. Ben hit a first time volley and it rattled off the underside of the bar and hit the line and bounced clear.
That was about it for the action as Langy were able to hold out for a great win with 10 men. The result now moved Langy to 3rd on the ladder and with results going their way. Langy are now only 1 point off Bentleigh who are second and 2 points off Pines who are on top.
Langy have another tough local derby game against Cranbourne this week. The 3 points on offer are vital as both Bentleigh and Pines play each other on the Sunday at Bentleigh. This is a huge opportunity to move into the promotion zone.
Hopefully we can get all the Langy faithful to the game this weekend and we can have another bumper crowd as it truly does inspire the lads and helps them dig deep and come away with these great results.
